


How Could it Possibly Get Any Worse?

by Gab_z



Category: Tokyo Ghoul
Genre: Angst, Betrayal, Black Reaper Kaneki, Broken Friendships, Cough.Sunlit Garden Hide. Cough, Dealing with impending death, F/F, F/M, Friends to Enemies to Lovers, Gender Identity Issues, Hide's like ~23... He gon die soon..., M/M, Mending friendships, Multi, OT3, People Will Die, R A P E, Rating will probably go up, Spoilers, Unhealthy Relationships, Washuu!Hide, Will probably be adding AriEto in the future, half-ghoul quinxs, i dunno, quinx hide
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-23
Updated: 2017-05-03
Packaged: 2018-06-10 04:13:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 7
Words: 18,459
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6939175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gab_z/pseuds/Gab_z
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kaneki would stay, not because he wanted to but because he had to. Escape was not a viable option. </p><p>Wherein Kaneki becomes the Quinxs' mentor once again...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Update: ok, so I changed Yoshitoki to Matsuri for reasons, mostly because I felt as though the situation suited the shitty Washuu better (also changed some of the dialogue but nothing major) 
> 
>  
> 
> The plot bunnies multiplied and omg I don't even know where this went... What started off as a fairly straight forward betrayal fic devolved into... This.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kaneki is angsty... ((what are summaries??!!))

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edited: 15/11/16 
> 
> I am assuming that if you are reading you are staying up to date with the manga because there will be spoilers... MASSIVE spoilers. so yeah.

Truths are a fragile thing. Some can set you free, some can cage you and others can completely destroy you. Telling the truth isn't always the best decision even if it may be the right thing to do. But how to judge the severity of a truth? Under which circumstances should you reveal the ugly truth or keep it hidden indefinitely? Chances are everyone has a different opinion on this matter but this particular scenario should be clear cut.

His day had been going well—relatively speaking—until it happened. He hadn't seen it coming, not in a million years, yet he should've. He should've seen it coming despite the lack of clear evidence. But how could he have ever known that his life was based on lies even back then? His life was an ongoing lie, he was a lie—a living lie. Perhaps his greatest mistake was latching onto the first person that had shown him the slightest bit of kindness—lies.

Kindness. Can faked kindness truly be counted as kindness? Do the intentions behind a kind act affect its overall 'kindness'? The perspective of kind can be warped, it can be distorted and viewed differently through different eyes. Something considered kind to some might not be kind to others. But what had been done to him was not kind under any lens. It was wrong, it was perverse... It was cruel.

He had latched onto him, someone who he believed he could trust, who he could confide in. Someone who had never meant a single word he'd said. That's what hurt, knowing that what he thought he had never truly was. His ray of hope... It was all a lie.

He supposed that subconsciously he never did trust him all that much, or else why would he have refrained from telling him about becoming a ghoul?

His pathetic attempt at something resembling trust only brought him pain.

—•—

  
He walked down the hall as usual when, as he passed in front of Matsuri's office, he heard two voices. His consciousness told him that eavesdropping was wrong and that he should leave but in the end curiosity got the better of him. There had been something about that voice that was... Familiar.

He inched closer to the door. With his ear against it he could hear the muffled voices from inside the room.

"—a success—you—" the voice had been disjointed with only a few words being comprehensible. "—Kanou—"

Kanou. Kaneki's blood ran cold as he pushed his ear closer to the door. His breathing had become erratic and he had to make a conscious decision to slow it down.

It had been Matsuri Washuu's voice. How was he related to Kanou? Could this be the explanation as to why there hadn't been a large scale investigation? Kaneki liked to believe that capturing a human who turned other humans into half-ghoul monstrosities would be somewhere at the top of the CCG's list... Apparently, it wasn't.

Hearing Matsuri saying that was worrisome but it hadn't been the voice he'd began eavesdropping for. It had been one that was so familiar, a voice that couldn't have been...

"I'm not sure—"

Kaneki's heart and breathing all but stopped. It wasn't him... It couldn't be him. Had he not already been leaning against the door he surely would've collapsed. His field of vision blurred with tears. He hadn't even gotten confirmation and he was already crying.

_Don't speak, don't speak, don't speak._

He did not want to hear that voice again. He did not want to be right. Without any concrete proof he could continue to believe the lie, the happy little dream, or what remained of its crumpling fragments anyway.

"—could've gone better—complications—"

No. No no no nononono.

A coincidence. Yes, that's what it was. Just a cruel coincidence. He gave a self-deprecating laugh, how could he have ever believed that Hid—

Matsuri was much closer to the door than before. "You did a splendid job."

"Ah, it was nothing, really." The still unknown— _known_ —voice answered.

"Such a long term project is nothing to brush off. V is extremely pleased with the results," he sighed, "you're to be sent to Germany in the hour. We can't risk having him see you."

"I-I know." The voice sounded almost dejected.

The handle twisted. The door opened.

Kaneki gazed at the floor. He dared not look up even though he already knew what he'd find. Damn his nose.

"Ka... neki?" The other's voice was quiet. "How  long were you there..."

The silence and heavy atmosphere that followed were more than enough to answer his question.

"Oh dear, it appears we've been overheard by the worst possible person." Matsuri's voice was more mocking than it was angry. "Wouldn't you agree, Hideyoshi Washuu?"

Hide. Washuu. Hideyoshi Washuu.

Hide was a Washuu. Hide had apparently played an important part in his becoming a half-ghoul. Hide was partially responsible for his suffering. Hide had never been his friend...

Somehow everything that came before— Tsukiyama, Jason, Sachi, Arima, his mother, _everything_ — was nothing compared to this. The pain he was in could was not comparable to anything he has ever felt. It was undefinable. He thought that he had known what pain was... He had been wrong.

He rose abruptly, making sure to avoid all eye contact with Hide–

 _'Hideyoshi,'_ he reminded himself factually, _'not Hide.'_

He had no idea just how Hideyoshi was involved with Kanou but he knew that he was a Washuu and that alone was reason to feel betrayed. The young Washuu had planned for him to meet Arima. What else had he orchestrated? What role did he play in everything else?

He swivelled around and walked away as casually as possible. If he started running he'd look weak... Weaker than he already was.

"Sasaki!" The blond cried out. "Wait! Just—just let me explain!"

Should he remain for answers? Probably, but he didn't want to hear them. He wasn't interested in excuses and those were all Hideyoshi would be able to give him, he knew that to be true, he just did.

"Sa—Kaneki! I swear there's a reason! Just— please!" He took a few steps in Kaneki's direction nearly stumbling over his own feet.

Kaneki faltered, maybe there really was an explication, a reason beyond the obvious. Oh, how he wanted to hope but hope had long since fled from his life leaving behind but a faint underling sense of despair.

"Kaneki, seriously, I'll tell you everything, just wait." Hide inched closer to Kaneki with his arms extended outwards as if approaching a frightened animal.

"You really should listen to your superior, Associate Special Class Sasaki." Matsuri who had been quiet till then spoke.

Reality slammed into Kaneki and all thoughts of staying vanished. Hideyoshi was a Washuu, his superior by default. He had believed that they were friends but then why had he never admitted to being a Washuu? Why go by Nagachika? The Washuus were—still are—a respected family amongst the human populace, he had no real reason to keep it a secret unless there had always been a plan...

Hide had always been his only friend. Come to think of it, Hide had time and time again steered him away from making other friends. It had always been subtle, an off handed comment on how such and such person had done this or that and Kaneki being extremely timid had never found the courage to make friends himself. Hide had manipulated him. They had been ten though, could a ten-year-old be so cunning and resourceful? Was Hide a child genius? A prodigy? How could he have not _known?!_

_["I want to help you," Hide said, scratching his cheek.]_

Show that you’re worth keeping alive... It went unsaid but it was strongly implied...

NO! That couldn't be!

"Lies, all lies." Despite his best efforts the words came out broken.

He vaguely heard Hi—Hideyoshi yell something at him but his mind was too numb to pick up much of anything. His vision swayed and he knew that he had to get away before he broke down and cried. He wouldn't allow them the satisfaction.

He nearly tripped over his own feet in an attempt to get away as fast as possible. He was sardonically glad that he had left when he did seeing as tears were beginning to roll down his embarrassingly red cheeks.

And was that snot?

He passed by the elevator, opting for the staircase instead—the chances of being seen were slimmer and avoidable. He was half-tempted to just jump out a window and make his way down using his kagune, but that would attract way too much attention and investigators would get nosy. That's not even mentioning the ones that might use it as an opportunity to further their point that he—a ghoul—shouldn't be allowed to live 'freely'.

Ha, as if he were even free to begin with.

Jumping down entire flights of stairs he was incredibly glad that he hadn't smashed into anyone yet. Hopefully he wouldn't at all.

Finally, he reached the main floor. He paused, his hand hovering over the handle. He was a wreck, there was no way he could let anyone see him, his reputation was on the line.

A Reaper wasn't supposed to have emotions.

He briefly wondered if Arima ever cried when he was alone.

He choked on a sob. He was so inadequate. Worthless. Obsolete. His 'best friend' hadn't even hesitated to throw him under the bus. He would never be able to surpass Arima and then he'd be disposed of. It wasn't a question of 'if', only a question of 'when'.

The thought of running away crossed his mind like it had many times since his memories had returned. He could leave, nothing was truly keeping him tied to the CCG—not true—but, where would he go? They knew what he looked like, he wouldn't be able to hide for long. Going to :Re—Anteiku—was out of the question, he wouldn't put Touka and Renji in danger.

His hand strayed to his neck. Well, there was another reason he couldn't leave...

He'd stay, he'd be the loyal dog they wanted him to be. What he wanted was not important. It had never been important.

"Mama?"

He had left the squad. Someone like him wasn't a good role model and he knew Saiko and Mutsuki looked up to him—they should stop.

"Hum...Mr. Sasaki?"

Ah, how he wished he could go back to sleep.

_[I am a sweet dream. Once the sleep falls from my eyes and I begin to cry, it's all over.]_

But he couldn't. His time as Haise had been beautiful and peaceful but it hadn't been real.

_[Somewhere along the way, I mistakenly began to once again desire.]_

He had been foolish to believe that someone as ugly as him could ever be loved. Never again.

"A–Are you alright?" Mutsuki's small voice said.

Kaneki realized that he must've looked out of place, standing in front of the door with his hand just barely grazing the surface of the handle.

Did they hear him cry? He hoped not or else... or else they'd know just how pathetically weak he was. His flawless facade would be broken and he had no idea how he'd make sure they didn't pity him.

Despite the man not haven spoken, Kaneki knew Urie was there, he could smell him. That stuck up prick would undoubtedly use this moment of weakness to shove it in his face. Or for future blackmail, really it all depended on his mood.

"I'm fine, Rank One Mutsuki." His voice came out shuddered, directly contradiction what he'd said.

Rank One... It felt weird, calling them by rank that is, especially Rank One. In his eyes they were still children. Still weak. His definition of 'weak' might've been somewhat warped, sparring with Arima on a weekly basis and all—something he's finding extremely nerve wracking since he'd regained his memories.

"Oh, o–okay," Mutsuki mumbled. It was obvious that he had no idea how to approach this new 'Sasaki'.

Urie, on the other hand, had no such issues.

"Something is clearly wrong (talk idiot)." His voice was deadpanned as usual.

Kaneki was genuinely shocked, Urie had almost sounded sincere, maybe he'd misjudged him.

In a last ditched effort to save face he bottled up his tumultuous emotions as tight as he possibly could. He would deal with them later.

His face was neutral—too neutral—and when he spoke he sounded deader than usual.

"Truly, I'm fine," his smile was empty, "no need to worry yourselves." Lies.

"It's just that..." Small, adorable Saiko started. "You've changed, Mama. Why?" She finished with a question that stumped Kaneki.

'Why?' The answer was so obvious, so clear yet so hard to explain. Urie would be able to take it but how to explain to Mutsuki and Saiko that Haise never truly existed? That he was all make believe. That he had been created by the broken man as a coping mechanism... They wouldn't believe him; they'd beg for Sasaki to come back. But like all dreams, once you wake up, you can't go back.

The higher ups already knew about his memories returning which was why he now had to wear _it_ everywhere he went. A tracking device, not even a subtle one, was wrapped around his neck at all times—which was why he wore his collar high—and only a select few had the key. It also acted has an RC cell represent injector, with the click of a button he would be completely incapacitated. This information was kept secret in order to avoid mass panic—there would be a lot of protest if anyone found out about the SS rate Centipede having regained his memories.

"We just want our Mama back,. Saiko was on the verge of tears.

"Oh, Saiko, Haise never existed." He said softly with what sounded like a hint of mocking. He had considered sugar coating the truth, but in the end he didn't have the patience to hop around the bush. He would tell them the cold harsh reality and leave them to figure it out.

"Sasaki Haise was a lie." His voice reflected just how dead he was inside, "he was nothing but a construct that I made up in order to deal with the shit storm that was my life."

He ignored Saiko's look of shocked betrayal.

Was he being hypocritical? Only minutes ago he had found out that the one he looked to as his best friend was a lie and here he was bluntly stating that the one they had loved and cared for had never existed. No, it wasn't the same. Hideyoshi had never been amnesiac. Haise, on the other hand, genuinely had no idea that he was a fake, no, that was also a lie. At the end of the day he had always known deep down that he hadn't been living in reality.

Reality was a nightmare of the likes which you could only escape from by dreaming.

And dreamt he had. Until he wasn't.

"What's that supposed to mean (get to the fucking point)?"

Kaneki took a deep breath. "It means that the person you want back is dead and never was in the first place."

His expression was hidden from the quinxs view.

"My salvation was but sleep and sweet dreams..." He muttered.

"Maman?" Saiko said, her lower lip trembling. "I don't care if your different now, you're still Mama."

Saiko's bright optimism was so very refreshing but foolish. She could not understand, and quite frankly, neither could he.

"It's nice to know that someone still cares." his head tilted to the side. "Nevertheless, it changes nothing." he glanced at his watch. "I have to meet with Arima-san in five."

That was a lie.

His composure in check he swung the door open, leaving the three—Urie less so than the other two—quinx baffled and strode out into main hall with an air of confidence. Granted, it was faked confidence, not as if anyone would truly notice.

The crowd of people split down the middle to make way for the newest reaper. Had he been in a better mood he might've laughed and fancied himself Moses. Not that this was an uncommon occurrence.

Before, when he was Haise, people would chat him up at random, now they all gave him a wide berth. He appeared dangerous and he was dangerous, they did not need to know about his memories returning to know that there was something dreadfully wrong with him; Haise would never have been so cold.

His all black attire stood out like a sore thumb in a sea of white. He was different.

Furtive glances were cast in his direction and hushed whispers reached his sensitive ears. He paid heed to neither. He was above the petty gossipers in every way. A fact many would try to disprove on the grounds that he was a ghoul—different.

Ghoul or not he could count on one hand the number of investigators that would be able to slaughter him with little to no effort. Arima was at the top of that list. Then again, Arima was at the top of everyone's list.

His elusive problematic father figure. To love or not to love? To hate or not to hate? The difficult questions to which he had yet to even find the slimmer of an answer to. Did Haise care for Arima? Yes, obviously. Did Kaneki care for Arima... That was a harder question. Haise did not know what Kaneki did.

He sighed. His relationships—lies—were crumpling faster than a damn soggy cookie.

Was it his fault? Was he the one pushing people away? He could've accepted the quinxes help, but how? It would've been awkward at best and he honestly wasn't sure how he would've gone about explaining his situation. He wasn't sure if he could explain anything at this point.

And wasn't it the right choice? To push them away. Such talented young people shouldn't be tainted by his presence. Besides, they would've come to regret their decision to help him, of that he was sure.

He was undesirable. His mother had not wanted him. His 'best friend' did not want him. His 'father' most likely deemed him a failure. His 'mom' didn't want to even look at him—he didn't kill him! He didn't! Why wouldn't she believe him?

He brought his hand up to his moth to muffle a sob.

Why couldn't he be more like Arima... He—seemingly—had no problems hidden his emotions in public—if he had any to begin with. He knew it was foolish to compare himself to Arima; the ladder had been conditioned since birth to be a living machine, never needing anything, always doing as he was told.

 _ **"Ah~ but aren't you the same?"**_ A slimy voice echoed through his mind.  _ **"Conditioned to never ask for anything, to never want anything."**_ It wrapped around him like an ominous blanket, smothering any hope that he might've had left. _**"You only ended up cutting your training short or did you forget about that as well?"**_

_[A young boy stumbled to the ground, eyes wide, bloodied knife in hand.]_

He remembered. It was an accident. He swore it was accident.

It. Was. An. Accident.

 _ **"Oh really? What about that time you stabbed Banjou? When you threw Tsukiyama off a skyscraper? Almost killed your 'best friend',"**_ the voice mocked, _**"or do you now regret not doing that last one?"**_

Kaneki clenched his teeth. He could not allow himself to lash out for no apparent reason, for no reason at all really, in public.

But did he? Did the voice—himself—have a point?

Did he regret not killing Hideyoshi Washuu?

Did he?

He would've had to live with the guilt but his image of him would've remained untainted. Would that have been any better?

He knew that Hideyoshi hadn't died back there in the sewers when his memories had flooded to the forefront of his mind but he had never had the time to look nor did he have any leads as to where he might find him.

And Hide had made no attempts to contact him. No signs that he was still alive. Nothing.

He paused as he realized that he had reached the exit. Only a few seconds... That was the time it had taken him to reach the double door. His sense of time was so warped.

The door opened and sunlight washed over him. He felt indifferent. It might as well have been midnight for all the good it did.

_Ring ring ring_

Colour was gone. The world was in shades of grey. No black or white, those were lies; colours that did not exist. They were absolutes and absolutes did not exist. Yet he wore all black. He was an absolute. He would obey his orders without question, much like his counterpart.

He trudged on with no destination in mind other than away. Away from the lies. Away from the pain. Just... _away_. He'd have to return eventually; it was his prison after all.

He took a seat on a bench overlooking a playground. How could such a place be built mere feet away from an institution that has killed hundreds of thousands of innocents?

"Mama!" A happy voice cried out. "Look at what I can do!" It was so pure, so innocent and naive.

  
A small child boasting her ability to make a sand castle of all things, the mother smiling and kneeling next to her daughter, the bright smile that lit up on the girl's face when her mother praised her. It was... nice.

_["What... are you insinuating?"]_

He had no idea what that was like. To be appreciated and praised and loved.

_["Mama! I made this for you!" Saiko shoved a card in his—Sasaki's—face. "It's for Mother's Day!"]_

They hadn't loved him; they had loved Sasaki. They did not need him, they needed Sasaki. Could you be jealous of yourself?

_["Onii-chan!"]_

His eyes teared up. Hinami needed him— Kaneki, not Sasaki. She needed him but he couldn't do anything. He could never do anything for her ever again. Would he go to witness her disposal? Would she look at him with understanding eyes? Or eyes filled with betrayal? He wasn't sure which ones would be worse.

_Ring ring ring_

And if Anteiku planned a rescue... He'd have to face down Touka and Renji... and he didn't want to but he didn't want Himami to die but he couldn't leave and didn't want to leave and he couldn't fight the quinx. And why couldn't he just _choose_.

_["In choosing both, losing both."_

_"There are times when you'll have to protect something, even at the cost of something else."]_

Why did the cost have to be so high?

Anteiku or the CCG—the Quinx. One or the other, not both, never both.

Hadn't he already made his decision though? Throwing Tsukiyama off the building like that? Being partially responsible for the near extermination of his entire family? There was no conceivable way that he would ever forgive him. He'd driven himself into a corner.

Back then, in that flower field, he had hoped for the end, the end of everything. His idea of a sweet dream had been death, instead he had been given a second chance... A chance he fucked up.

Hoping was the first step towards being disappointed.

Why had he ever hoped?

And has he sat starring at the kids playing in the sand box he noticed a singular boy, playing alone.

All he had ever wanted was a friend...

  
_["Mommy, I'm sorry."_

_"I... I don't need it..."_

_"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."_

_"I don't need anything, so..."_

_"I'm sorry."_

_"I don't need it anymore."_

_..._  
...  
...

_"Mommy?"]_

  
... It was wrong to want something.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was meant to be a one-shot but obviously it isn't anymore.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kaneki doesn't like Arima, Fruit makes an appearance and something...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know her official nickname is Ginny but imma call her Sia, deal with it. 
> 
> ((Please point out any typos!))

Arima's office was cold and unwelcoming, it had been so ever since that night. His uneasiness was not appeased in any way by the presence of the man himself.

"You did not answer your phone yesterday." It was a statement, there was no room for any arguments.

"I was... Preoccupied with other things," Kaneki's answer sounded forced even to himself.

Arima picked up a pen from his desk, "I assumed as much." The pen was being tossed from hand to hand in an infuriatingly nonchalant manner.

These awkward silences always set him on edge, even when he was Haise.

"Any details on the matter?"

He phrased it like a question but it was anything but.

"Nothing that would be deemed necessary." Kaneki hoped that he would just drop the subject and forget about it.

"Matsuri gave me a call yesterday," he said completely ignoring what Kaneki had said previously, "he said that you might have reason to be... upset." Arima stared at him.

"He did?" Kaneki feigned ignorance.

"I see, well, nevertheless as my secretary you are expected to answer when I call," the original reaper said.

"Yes, of course sir, it won't happen again." Kaneki bowed.

Arima glanced at him from his peripheral vision. Kaneki hated that, that feeling of constantly being assessed, judge, scrutinized for any imperfections. He wasn't a god damn robot.

They were at the awkward phase yet again. Arima wasn't saying anything. He hadn't given him permission to leave either. Kaneki knew not to do anything outside of his orders. He would wait, standing there impassively as death himself judged him.

The clocked ticked. 11: 00 A.M.

After what seemed like hours, Arima looked past Kaneki's shoulders and towards the door.

"You are dismissed."

That was all. Had it been a test? Had Arima been testing his obedience? Yes, that's what is was. It had to be. He had been checking if he would've left the room on his own accord or waited for the dismissal. Did he pass? Did he make the right decision? Was there even a test to begin with?

Kaneki was just about to head out the door when Arima's voice intoned from behind him.

"You are to return to being the quinxs' mentor in a month's time."

Kaneki went cold. He would what? Go back but... There had to be a reason, one he knew Arima wouldn't give him.

Could he really do it? Go back to being their mentor? He didn't think so but Arima had given his order and he would obey.

Having already being allowed to leave and seeing as Arima was not voicing any objections Kaneki let himself out of the office. The door closed with a soft click and Kaneki released his breath. The man terrified him, just being in his vicinity knowing that he could end him in a split second if he so choose to was terrifying. Arima owned him, so if he did kill him no one would really mind. He was a ghoul after all.

His day thoroughly ruined and he felt guilty for thinking that.

Thankfully—not really—he didn't have to wonder for long. His childish subordinate sauntered down the hallway. He wouldn't admit it aloud, mostly because it was unfounded, but Furuta set him on edge, something about the man was eerie. Without any concrete evidence and only his gut to go by he was helpless to do anything. But, just in case, he wouldn't let his guard down around the cowardly man.

"Boss!" Furuta's voice carried down the hall.

Maybe he was just being paranoid.

"Furuta, why are you here?" It was a genuine question, Furuta should have had no idea that he would be in Arima's office at this time. No, him asking around to see if anyone knew of his location wasn't impossible. He really needed to tone down his paranoia.

"I've got news on the quinx," he said amicably, "just thought you'd like to know."

 _'We both know that's a lie, you're here for something else...'_ Kaneki thought.

"The quinx?" He decided that the best course of action would be to play along, "what about them?"

Kaneki directed them away from Arima's office.

"You're thinking of the wrong ones," Furuta continued has they walked on, "the ones I'm talking about are new, or soon to be new, I suppose."

Kaneki blinked, "they're making more quinx? Do you at least have their names?" Pause, "and why wasn't I informed of this before?"

"Ah, well, the decision has just been made a few hours ago and you aren't their mentor anymore sooo..."

"That's beside the point and I've just been reinstated." A small part of him felt what he could only describe as a misplaced sense of pride. He didn't not want to be their mentor. He didn't.

Furuta blinked. "Oh, I wasn't aware... Anyways here's what I got. I'm not really supposed to even know about this..." He fiddled with the cuffs of his sleeves, "but never mind that! Did you honestly believe I'd come bearing no extra info on the matter?" The switch in tone and subject was jarring to say the least.

"There's Touma Higemaru," he said nonchalantly, "he had always displayed a strong suitability for the operation, really it's no surprise he underwent it. He comes from a rather rich and high ranking household, much like 'Young Hope Ui'."

Kaneki resisted the urge to snort. 'Young Hope Ui', what a pretensions title and one that he couldn't possibly hold up. People tended to believe that since he had been trained by Arima that must automatically mean he's the next Arima—no. That's not to say that he wasn't a good investigator, far from it but in a fight Kaneki couldn't see himself loosing against him; he had been—still is being—trained by Arima after all. A ghoul could never hope to fully replace Arima however, so of course they'd have to go with the next best thing.

"His family is filled with people who hold lifesaving occupations, police officers, fire fighters, SDF officials and the like. As such, his sense of justice must be quite high."

Justice. The excuse people use to justify practically anything.

"Then we have Ching-Li Hsiao, or Ginny if you will, she came here from Taiwan as a child. She was in the gifted students class at the Sunlit Garden. She has the same raw talent as her fellow Garden Aluma, Ihei. She seems to prefer barehanded combat; none were able to best her.

"Lastly there's Shinsanpei. Seventh Academy Junior Alumnus. He's Special Class Kiyoko Aura's nephew," Furuta shrugged, "he didn't quite live up to his Aunt. Despite showing potential and having experience he achieved nothing particular during his time at the Academy. I guess most are hoping that he's just a late bloomer and not some failure."

"He must be under a lot of pressure." Kaneki damn well knew what 'being under pressure' meant.

"He is, which is why he's decided to become a quinx when he discovered that he was compatible... Or at least that's my speculation," Furuta said, "come to think of it," he continued, "there is another one but I don't know anything about him to be honest, heh, they're all living in the Chateau so you could just drop by and see for yourself."

A mysterious new quinx? Kaneki felt somewhat apprehensive.

"And the operation is scheduled for...?"

The decision to make more Quinx might've been agreed upon a short while ago but this wasn't an easy operation. Unless they had planned to make more Quinx from the get go, regardless of the first batch's success.

"Not sure," Furuta shrugged again, "within the month I would suspect. How long did it take the first quinx?"

"There were a lot of moral and ethical issues as one would imaging would be the case when performing an operation that changes one's species..." Kaneki said, "it took quite a while longer than a month to finalize the decision that's for sure."

"They'll be lost won't they? None can control their kagune as well as you can." Something in Furuta's voice made Kaneki want to punch him.

"Which is probably why I've been reassigned."

"You really don't care about them anymore or do you?"

"It doesn't matter if I do or don't." Kaneki stated, "I'll do what Arima asks of me. If he orders me back into the quinxs squad them that's what I'll do." Obedience before all else, that was the only way.

"You really are the CCG's dog," Furuta said with a giggle, "oh, whoops, sorry."

Kaneki didn't reply, he was right after all, he was their dog. His eyes strayed to the ground. This was his life.

"It was nice seeing you Furuta." A small lie, a fake smile, "I'll be going now."

The other opened his mouth as if to say something but closed without saying a word. He must've realized that if he pushed the subject too much Kaneki would become even wearier of him than he already was.

The hall was quiet and empty, most had left to eat lunch. Kaneki had nothing of interest to do—it's not as if he could eat— and having left his only, albeit infuriating, source of entertainment he was bored.

Reading was somewhere on his list, he could do it but he wasn't really in the mood to read.

He sighed and stopped in front of a bench in the main hall. No one was around, besides where was the harm in sitting down on a public bench? And that's exactly what he did.

He had nothing do to and he would try his best to prolong the inevitable—his meeting with the quinx. Was he also going to meet the soon to be new ones? Meeting them in advance would have its benefits; knowing their strengths and weakness first hand would allow him to see what they needed to train in. He wouldn't be in a weak squad. He would not tolerate anything that wasn't damn well near perfect and if he had to beat in the ground to get results that's what he'd do. Arima trained him in that fashion; ghouls wouldn't hold back so then why should it be any different during spars?

He was more anxious about meeting his old squad members... Saiko was sure to latch onto him and never let go. She wanted her 'Maman' back... He wasn't sure if he could do that. Probably not.

Mutsuki was in the same wagon as Saiko. He had always looked up to Sasaki as a mentor, as a person of confidence. He had very much seen Sasaki as some sort of parental substitute like Saiko had.

The only one he knew had no emotional attachment to Sasaki was Urie. He only hoped that he had toned down his attitude by a lot because he was not going to tolerate insubordination and his patience was thin. The slightest mister on his part and he would be in a world of pain.

He could never go back to the way it was before. Even if he tried his very best it would not be possible since Shirazu was dead... He shouldn't have said those things to Urie on that night. And maybe he did have a point, if he had finished with Tsukiyama and the Owl—Takatsuki—sooner he might've been able to save Shirazu. Of course it's ludicrous to believe that he could've dealt with the Owl any faster than he had. He was also certain that she had lost purposefully and even left him some of her Kakuja. The only question was why? Why did she lose?

Kaneki didn't know how he would deal with Urie but since when was that new?

The others didn't worry him quite as much. You had the 'in the name of justice' one, the class prodigy and the failure. Easy right? Except there was mister mysterious one. Kaneki had no way of knowing who that person was, heck he wasn't sure if they were even a 'he' to begin with! With no info to go off of it could either go perfectly fine or absolutely horrible and he had no way of guessing which of those two outcomes were most likely to happen.

The place was beginning to fill up. Kaneki glanced at his watch and realized that an hour and a half had flown by, it was now 1:15 pm. He still had the entire afternoon before he had to confront the quinxs. Did they know he was to their mentor again?

He sighed, it wouldn't do good to think of it. He would be getting his answer at the end of the day anyways.

He got up. There was no way that he would be staying in the CCG building with so many people rummaging around. He tried to minimize his time spent on that building as much as possible. Everything about it unsettled him from the infrastructure itself to the way to jovial receptionists who said, with smiles, that all ghouls should be exterminated.

Really, it was only socially acceptable genocide when you thought of it. Not that any of them would see it as such, 'pest control' they'd say 'they deserve to be put down!', 'monsters! The lot of them!' Couldn't they see their own hypocrisy?

Yet they kept him alive. They kept him alive because he was useful. After all, ghouls didn't have any liberties or rights, so who cares what they did to him?

—•—

The door to the Chateau stood menacingly in front of him. All he had to do was knock. Or just use his keys those were also an option. He opted for the latter.

The keys jingled in his hands. He singled the one he needed from all the rest and pushed in the lock. Click. The door opened silently. It wasn't only the door that was silent; there was not a single sound.

He cocked an eyebrow. They must've known he would come. Oh well, all the better.

The Chateau was exactly as he had left it a couple of months ago. That felt... nice. He at least had a sense of familiarity.

The door to the living room was closed. They were behind it. His hand splayed across its surface, face drawn tightly, he reached for the handle and pushed.

If anyone had been breathing before they certainly weren't anymore. Kaneki did a quick head count.

Saiko, Mutsuki, Urie and three new faces.

Wait. Only three? Wasn't there supposed to be a fourth one? He narrowed his eyes, not liking the veil that was over the missing person's identity at all.

Urie was sitting in an armchair situated in the corner of the room. Mutsuki was in an adjacent seat to his. Saiko was, of course, playing on her PSP, well, she was before he had walked in.

Hige was leaning over Saiko's shoulder watching her play whatever game it was she was playing. His attention was, however, diverted from it the second Kaneki stepped inside the room.

Shin was fidgeting on the couch.

Hsiao—Sia—was the calmest out of all of them. Her back straight, hands on her lap and face impassive. Her attitude reminded him a bit too much of Arima.

Saiko looked at him hesitantly, "Mama?"

"You should leave," Urie glared at him, "we're expecting someone (you're an ass)."

"I am aware of that," Kaneki answered politely, "the person you're expecting would be me."

—•—

Urie fought back the urge to groan. If what Sasaki said was true he should make some effort to not land himself any further into his blacklist. This new Sasaki was going to less lenient, his dismissal of them yesterday—and multiply days before—proved that.

Urie saw Mutsuki tense. He clenched his fists. How dare Sasaki treat them like yesterday's trash? Weren't they his 'children'?

The idiot who clearly couldn't read the atmosphere opened his trap, "oh! You're that Black Reaper fellow aren't you? Kind of an ominous alias wouldn't you say?"

Urie had to consciously resist face-palming. To Hige credit however, Sasaki did look startled.

"I suppose it is." Seeing him confused brightened Urie's day significantly, "people started calling me that and it stuck."

"Wicked," Hige whispered, "you're like the next Arima or something."

Sasaki clenched his jaw, "I see..."

Urie was confused, being called the 'next Arima' was more of a compliment than anything else, so why did he take it has an insult? Urie wasn't blind he could see how Sasaki and Arima's relationship had changed after the Extermination Operation . It went from casual banter—mostly from Sasaki—to something bothering on animosity. He wasn't exaggerating either, if he didn't know any better he would've sworn that Sasaki would be at Arima's throat if he could.

"This is soooo cool! Weren't you the quinx's mentor before you transferred to the Zero Squad? Must be pretty nostalgic coming back!"

"It is," Sasaki's voice was bordering on exasperation, "however, I haven't come to discuss petty topics and since I'm only being reappointed in a month's time this is more of a reconnaissance than anything else."

"Get to know your future charges, smart," Sia muttered.

Urie looked at Sia. He wasn't sure what to think of her. She was smart, she was strong and quiet, she was too much like him at first glance. She also came from the elusive Garden. Urie had only heard about it in passing and any attempts to dig deeper resulted in dead ends. Of one thing he was certain, she was dangerous.

"Yes, that is exactly why I am here," Sasaki said mildly impressed, "I have a rough outline of your abilities but witnessing them myself would be beneficial."

"Interesting," Sia said, "when will these preliminaries of sort begin?"

"Tomorrow," Sasaki answered, "the sooner it's over the better."

"How will we be tested," Shin mumbled.

"Simple," Sasaki stated, "one on one duels against me." His gaze drifted over the older quinx, "it has been a while some I've seen you three fight, you'll be passing as well."

Urie smirked, that was the perfect opportunity to prove once and for all that he was better than Sasaki.

Tomorrow would be a great day.

—•—

Sia was glad that her mentor was someone like Sasaki. He was calm, collected and most importantly, he was powerful, she has no doubt that she would learn much under his tutelage.

She didn't have much to say about her colleagues. Urie was much like her, Saiko was lazy but a powerhouse, Shin would only hold her back, Hige was annoying and Mutsuki was... Mutsuki was scary. She decided that if she were to cooperate with them as a team that it would be better to know their history, call it an invasion of privacy she did not care, optimal efficiency came first, feelings second. She knew that was odd but after doing a bit of digging she came about some disturbing revelations.

Mutsuki was not mentally stable.

He was a murderer.

And murderers were no better than ghouls.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: *reads tgre chapter 79*  
> Me: ...  
> Me: ...  
> Me: this needs to go in here 
> 
>  
> 
> Next chappy: witness my horrible fight scenes (oh god)


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shitty short fight scene. There is a letter.~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter's kinda pointless, the end's the only important part.

Urie concluded that if he got to the training room first he should be able to squeeze in some extra minutes of training. Did he believe that those small seconds would make much of a difference? Of course not but if did make him feel somewhat more at ease.

He reached his location and, of course, Sia was already there. She didn't notice him standing in the door frame or she did not care. Her training regimen appeared to consist entirely of stretching and light—50 pound dumbbells—weight lifting.

Urie figured that since she was mainly a hand-to-hand fighter her strength would undoubtedly be superior to his even with his enhanced body. Unless she had (dudes name, I forgot) monstrous abilities, something that was statistically extremely improbable, she must at least have some form of quinque else she would be of much use in a fight against a ghoul.

Sia hoped to her feet. Her muscles tensed and, much like springs, propelled her backwards. After a few acrobatics she landed perfectly on her feet. She did not even wobble in the slightest... Truly a proficient practitioner of her art.

Her eyes connected with Urie's. 

"I see we had a similar idea." 

"We have," Urie responded. 

"Nervous?" Sia asked.

"Of course not," Urie was offended, "why would I be?" 

"Sasaki is a powerful adversary," she sat down on a mat. 

"Whatever," Urie scoffed, "I've been training, there's no way this is going to a one sided fight."

"He's also been training," Sia tactfully pointed out. 

Urie held his tongue, she was right, of course she was right. It was delusional to believe that he could win against Sasaki... not that he knew that. His mind was too shallow to accept that Sasaki was better than him in absolutely every way imaginable.

His superiority complex could in some ways be mistaken for an inferiority one. 

He had to prove himself. It wasn't an option; his pride was on the line.

"I doubt that even my own abilities will be enough," she stretched her leg, "but I'll lose nothing by trying besides we have our teammates to count on, right?" Her eyes were hard, judging as she looked him over.

That might just be their most discernible personality trait. Sia was all for team work. Urie, on the other hand, still had a ways to go in that field... Shirazu's death had pushed to realize that there was more to life than promotions.

"You expect me to rely on you three when I hardly know anything more than your names."

"Same goes for your other teammates," she mumbled softly but not softly enough for Urie to miss it.

Knowing he wouldn't get much of an answer out of the woman he chose to ignore the odd, almost out of nowhere, jab. He would look into it at later.

Urie narrowed his eyes. The sunlit garden, where all—almost all—the freakishly strong investigators come from. Arima was rumoured to have been a part of it but they were just that—rumours. Not that Urie would be surprised if he did, it would correlate with all the other sunlit garden 'graduates'. 

"What exactly is the sunlit garden," he inquired. 

"It's only a training facility of sorts, nothing out of the ordinary," she answered as if reciting a line from a script. 

 _'Liar,'_ Urie thought making sure not to make his disbelief obvious.

"Many well renowned and powerful investigators seem to have connections to it, I was simply curious," he admitted. It was true, he was curious about the Garden. Very curious. Never mind that curiosity killed the cat, he would dig and dig until he had answers.

"Coincidence, nothing more."

"The higher ups must have many expectations from you."

Her eyes turned cold, "would you mind to stop prying into my personal affairs? 

"Hn," was Urie's eloquent reply.

Sia's eyes soften, "I'm sorry, it's just that..." She took a deep breath, "I don't really like talking about my past." She looked at the floor.

Childhood trauma perhaps? In relation to the Garden? Urie had no idea what kind of training the ones who went there had to go through but with the results it produced he could safely assume it was pretty brutal.

Deciding that changing the subject was the best option he had, he asked, "do you know when he'll be here? (Idiot didn't specify.)"

"No, which is why I got here at 4:30."

Urie's jaw nearly dropped and I would've had he been anyone else. He was no stranger to hard work or overachieving but that was ridiculous. They had gone to bed at around midnight which meant...

"Did you even sleep?"

"And why would you care?"

That shut him up. Why did he care? He hoped she didn't make it habit of only getting a few hours of sleep. Not enough sleep can lead to many mistakes and when fighting for your life one misstep, a seconds' hesitation and your life is forfeit.  Not to mention that it could hinder the entire team.

Urie sighed and glanced at his watch. 6:30... Sasaki had said 'the sooner the better' Urie could only assume he meant during the morning... That was any hour before noon. He might be there for a while. Just because Sia was there didn't mean he wouldn't be practising and he might actually manage to squeeze in more than just few minutes of training as he had previously assumed.

—•—

Saiko woke up groggily to the blaring sound of her alarm. She was not used to getting up so 'early', that is if you consider 11:00 to be early. She had made a conscious effort to punch in the snooze time in her alarm, she wanted to make a good impression on Sasaki, the new one at least. 

The twin tailed woman had figured that Sasaki would be passing by somewhere around noon and if he had gotten here sooner someone—Urie most likely—would've come to wake her up. 

In her humble opinion Urie wasn't quite as bad as most people seemed to think he was. Sure, he was prideful to a fault and always wanted to get things done himself but he really wanted to get things done properly, if only by himself...

She sighed and rolled over. Of course, she didn't take into consideration the amount of bed she had left and promptly fell on the ground.

"Ugh," she moaned, her hand twitching slightly, "what a way to start the day." 

She turned over and glared at the covers that were tangled in her legs. Lazily, she kicked them off. A sigh escaped her lips. Why was she so useless? 

She got up and dusted herself off. Her room was a mess of candy wrappers, video game cartridges, anime figurines and stuff that she had no name for. There has to be a Lego just waiting to be step on somewhere in her death trap of a room. At least she could sleep peacefully knowing there was no way anyone short of Arima—and herself, of course—could navigate their way through it. 

First thing, she had to get dressed. A pity, really, her Pikachu one-piece was so comfortable. She tiptoed over to her wardrobe and swung it open. The inside was most probably the cleanest area in her entire room. Several uniform sets were nearly place on hangers, her boots and shoes were in order on the floor and that was it. Come to think of it, the reason why it was so clean was because everything that was supposed to be inside ... wasn't. 

She looked over her shoulder taking in the clothes strewn across the floor and piled up on various surfaces, there was even a shirt dangling from the fan. How it got up there, she had no idea. Oh well, she had what she needed, cleaning would have to wait till later.

She quickly threw her clothes on and passed a brush through her already tied hair. No time for anything like makeup or fancy hairdos, not that she typically did either of those on a regular basis.

Now, her quinque. Thankfully, she always kept it at the same place so looking for it wasn't necessary.

She wobbled to the door and, just before closing it behind her, froze. She turned her entire body towards her room. Dread pooled into the pit of her stomach as she realized that Sasaki would undoubtedly end up seeing her room... She was a disgrace. Despite her fear she knew that she did not have the time to make her room even slightly presentable.

Her head bowed low she closed the door and trudged towards the kitchen in order to grab a quick snack.

—•— 

Kaneki stood in front of the training room's double doors regretting his decision immensely. What had possessed him to make such an order? Logically he should've high tailed it out of there and not spoken to a single one of them until after the operation—until he was obliged to.  But no, he had to play the worried 'mother' or something... He sighed, _'what's done is done, now, time to deal with this.'_

He opened the door and was quite pleased to see that mostly everyone was present despite his vagueness regarding the exact time he would be arriving. Now, he said 'mostly' because a certain someone was late, most probably still sleeping. 

"Where exactly is Sai—," he was cut by a loud crash.

"I'M HERE!" Saiko panted. When no one uttered a word she hesitantly looked up to see that everyone—including Sasaki—was present, “oh, hi."

"Well," Kaneki passed a hand through his hair, "let's get this over with, I have more important things to be doing." He really didn't, he just wanted to get away as soon as possible.

He looked over his future charges, eyeing each one with a growing sense of disdain, especially when it came to Hige. The boy was simply the worst combination of Saiko and Shirazu he could've ever imagined. It would be nothing short of a miracle if he didn't end up flat out murdering him before the end of the year, his little stunt last night didn't help his chances of surviving. 

Shin was somehow shyer than Mutsuki ever was, he just hoped he didn't turn out to be a closeted psychopath... or whatever. 

And the last—for now—of the new soon-to-be Quinx, Sia. Kaneki was split. On one hand she was obviously the most mature of the three but on the other she also came from the Garden. She was a possible informant of sorts for V. While he didn't have any solid evidence he strongly believed that V was somehow connected to everything... Somehow. 

He mentally shook himself, now was not the time to contemplate possible conspiracy theories that rival the illuminati in sheer scale. 

"Now," Kaneki said purposefully ignoring Saiko as she crawled her way next Mutsuki and Urie, "all of you already have training and experience so I can't see this little test lasting more than an hour or two. I can also see that some would rather be elsewhere—" Hige was startled out of his near sleep state, "—myself included.

"This is how we shall proceed. Saiko, you'll be going first. Shin, you're second. Followed by Mutsuki. Hige. Urie and finally Sia. All clear?" No one answered, "good."

Saiko begrudgingly walked up to Kaneki. He could see that she wasn't into it at all.

"Saiko," he said sternly, "you're a powerful individual but all that power will go to waste if you don't make an effort," she perked up, "you don't want a repeat of two months ago, do you?"

Kaneki noticed Urie recoiling slightly, he didn't comment.

Saiko flinched, "no."

"Then," he dashed forwards, brought a fist up and went for a simple punch, "get serious with your training."

Saiko barely managed to block. That would've left a bruise for anyone else. 

She stumbled to regain her footing, not that Kaneki gave her the time to do so. Saiko soon found herself one the floor, Kaneki had swept her legs out from underneath her.

"Ow," she moaned and blinked. Where had her resolve gone? Just thirty minutes ago she was raving about how she would prove her worth to Sasaki and now here she was, not even trying. No! Fury coursed through her, she would show Sasaki, and everyone else, that she was useful! 

Saiko quickly got to her feet. She had to get to her quinque, hand-to-hand combat wasn't what she was made for and she knew damn well that fighting Sasaki weapon less put the odds against her even higher. If she at least got Bokusatsu No.2 then maybe...

Her gaze drifted to the pale suitcase on the floor. In her groggy state she had, for some reason, left it there. What was she thinking?!

Of course, Kaneki realized what she was aiming for. Should he let her get it? In an actual fight the enemy would stop at nothing to render you powerless and attempt to maintain you in that powerlessness. So, logically, he'd have to stop Saiko from reaching her quinque.

He snickered softly, this might not have been such a bad idea after all.

Kaneki let one thin rinkaku shoot out and wrap itself around the briefcase's handle. He quickly retracted it, bringing the quinque along with it. The rinkaku loosened and released its grip, letting the object it had fall into Kaneki's hands.

"You wanted this?" He taunted her. 'Use your Kagune already.'

He was slightly proud when he saw a looked of fierce determination flare in Saiko's eyes.

The twin tailed woman gritted her teeth and allowed her kagune to come out. Two long rinkaku erupted from her back and she used them to lash out at Kaneki.

Kaneki hopped around and wove through the oncoming attacks. He would wait until Saiko exhausted herself, then he'd swoop in and knock her unconscious.

Surely enough, Saiko began to pant. While her kagune was powerful, it took a lot out of her and could only be used for short bursts of time.

Her rinkaku dissolved. That was when Kaneki took his opportunity; Saiko was distracted and her kagune was gone. He sprinted towards her and raised two fingers. Had his opponent been human he would've used a different tactic but, eh, Saiko wasn't human—entirely that is. Kaneki jabbed both fingers at the bar of Saiko's throat. She slumped forward into Kaneki's arms. 

Kaneki unceremoniously slung her over his shoulder. She had a long ways to go if she wanted to be of any use to her squad. 

He dumped her body next to Mutsuki. He didn't say a word.

"Mutsuki," he called out startling the poor boy.

"Y-yes, I'm coming."

—•—

 _'In the end it really wasn't that bad,'_ Kaneki thought.

Saiko and Mutsuki performed just about as well as he had suspected they would. Urie had been better, no doubt due to training and because of what he'd told him after Shirazu's death.

He was surprised about Hige. Despite his attitude and personality, he had put a decent front, lasting longer than what Kaneki had first estimated he would.

Shin had been... Lacklustre. His abilities were mediocre at best. Something went wrong in the gene pool that's for sure.

Lastly there had been Sia... He didn't have much to say about her other than he wasn't surprised. She had been strong; ridiculously so dare he say even inhuman. Whatever happened in the Garden was beginning to intrigue him a lot.

He arrived at his small house. It was simple, one floor, one bedroom, one bathroom—the bare necessities. He had needed a place to move into after his abrupt disowning of the Quinx and he had flat out refused to stay in one of the CCG's lodgements. He valued what little privacy he had, thank you very much.

He reached for his keys but paused as something caught his attention. There was an envelope on his door step. He crouched and picked it up. The object in question was plain white lacking even an address or even a stamp, which indicated that whoever wanted him to have this had delivered it personally or had someone they trusted do it for them.

He bent it, shock and eventually came to the conclusion that it was a simple letter. Not having the slightest clue as to what the contents of the message might be he decided to head in and check it out as soon as possible, just after he checked his security footage.

He had installed a camera that overlooked his doorway, just in case.

The door closed softly behind him. He flicked the light switch on. The room was illuminated, most would consider the room to be missing quite a few things, decoration being one of many. He quickly made his way to his computer as he really wanted to discover the identity of this mysterious deliverer.

A few clicks later and he was good. He had left at 11:45AM and had cone at 4:00PM, leaving about a 5-ish hour time gap. Some more clicking later and he was looking at the recording on fast forward.

Finally, at roughly 1:00PM, a figure appeared in the left corner of the screen. He stared, shocked and in denial, there was no way, there was simply no way in hell it could be her. But, low and behold, it was indeed a turquoise haired woman. She turned to face the camera, only serving to solidify her identity, and smiled before dropping the letter and leaving.

Eto had delivered the letter. Personally.

Shit.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The :Re chapter rekt me. I mean, the REVALATIONS, HOLY SHIT! And Arima is indeed dead. ;;-;;  
> On a happier note it gave me so many ideas!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mostly Hide... Poor Hide.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The quotations change towards the end of the chapter because I started typing on my computer instead of on my iPod. 
> 
> And I figured out how to remove the extra space between the paragraphs and whatnot... I'm not gonna change it in earlier chapters because I'm lazy and it really doesn't matter (I'll probably do it later, idk) I DID IT.
> 
> And here I am, updating a fanfic at 2:40 AM. My mom could open the door at any moment and I'd be screwed.

Kaneki was transfixed in front of his monitor. Mechanically he closed the page. This was complicated. Very much so. He hadn't told his superiors about Eto's human alias but it was only a matter of time until it was made public, what with her increasingly daring escapades. And if someone caught wind of him receiving this letter it could lead to some... unsavoury consequences.

He contemplated destroying the security footage. It would get rid of any evidence but he wasn't a techie or a programmer or any other computer related professional or even amateur for that matter. He could delete it, however he had no idea how to make it seem normal. Suddenly missing a few hours would not be normal.

No, he could come up with some lame excuse, it was better that it be erased.

His mind had been solely on the security footage problem that he had temporarily forgotten about the letter. He wasn't too sure if he even wanted to find out the content of it now, knowing who it came from.

He hesitantly reached out for it as if it could explode at any moment. He tore the envelope open and removed the letter from inside.

The letter contained only an address, a date and a time.

 _'That address... It's familiar...'_ He thought. Then it struck him, _'no no no.'_

Just in case his internet history was being monitored by the CCG he chose to type in the place which he believed the address corresponded to, it would be odd if he looked up the coordinates of a place he already knew the location of.

Once that was done and he was on the shop's site he quickly looked for what he had come for. Sure enough, it was identical to the one on the paper.

Kaneki's fist clenched around the letter, effectively crumbling it.

"What do you want, Eto?"

—•—

It was a bad day, no, scratch that, it was an awful day in the life of Hideyoshi Nagachika. Well, his entire life was pretty bad but these past few days were particularly god awful.

His childhood best friend now hated his guts.

And the worse part? He really couldn't blame him. Heck, he'd hate himself. Kind of already does.

He supposed it was for the better, it's not like he had all that much time left. Half a decade at most maybe even less, he'd heard of some dying at twenty and Arima currently held the record of longest alive. Hide could only dream of making it to thirty-two.

He had long since stopped being bitter and dropped the resentment he had towards his... 'Father'. What was done was done, no use crying over spilled milk even when that milk was your life.

What left an even worse taste in his mouth was his upcoming 'mission', keeping an eye on Kaneki as a member of the Q Squad. In a way it wasn't all that different from what he had been ordered to do from the beginning; keeping an eye on Kaneki was what he had been doing from the very start of their 'friendship'.

Could he really call it that? He didn't choose to be his friend; he was forced to. Eventually he did start to care for Kaneki, something he had vehemently tried to deny as whatever V saw in him couldn't be good. Why was V so interested in him? They had gotten really upset when he had lost track of him after the raid on the Aogiri base. He couldn't fathom why they'd be interested in a previously ordinary human. Now, now he could at least understand why he intrigued them, being an artificial half-ghoul and whatnot.

Hide had to go so far as to join the CCG as a gopher just to get info! The CCG naturally keeps records of every investigator and person that works and/or is affiliated with them. Thankfully all of his legal papers were properly forged and have been since his birth in case some nosy individual decided to go snooping about him only to find nothing.

Legally he's Nagachika Hideyoshi. He, along with Nimura, Kishou and every other failure, didn't have the Washuu name. Even so, Matsuri loved to twist the knife by almost gloating about it in their faces' while in private. 'Hear this? This is what you could've had.'

And of all the times he chose to do it, it had to in front of Kaneki.

 Fan-fucking-tastic.

His return to Germany had been cancelled because why go when the only reason he was to in the first place was to not be seen by Kaneki? The original plan was that he would arrive at the CCG and continue on doing what he's always done. It was only now that they chose to involve him. Before would've been too risky, Kaneki needed to have time to create bonds before he remembered. In the end they hadn't gotten the choice of when he remembers since that had happened all on its own.

Hide's job in all this was to keep Kaneki 'in line'. To make sure he didn't consider leaving at all. He did have a collar, something Hide had been appalled about when he found out, but it wasn't impossible—hard, yes, but not impossible—for him to find a way to remove. He had to give Kaneki even more incentive to stay.

But now that wouldn't work. Kaneki hated him and wouldn't trust a single word that came out of his mouth anymore.

Hide sighed, it really had only been a question of when he found out, not if. The truth always ends up being known, he only wished he could've done it personally.

He kicked a rock that just so happened to be in his way. No destination, mindless wandering, desperately hoping that his thoughts would divert from Kaneki to something else—anything else.

This pointless walk had originally started with the goal of clearing his mind but seeing people interact with each other—seeing friends and family and lovers—only served to deepen the wound. With every kind word he overheard the knife twisted.

It had been a horrible idea.

Not only did seeing people remind him of the friend he had lost, it also served as a reminder of what he could never have— a future. He wasn't ignorant of the fact that many his age got cancer or that many others were born with serious defects that led to early graves. There was, however, a huge difference between accidents and purposefully breeding children that would be born with what could be considered as terminal cancer.

Hide grew up knowing that he was going to die at the age where 'normal' people truly started to live... And for what? To serve a ghoul family that was masquerading as humanity's saviour? To further their thirst for power? Or maybe Arima was right in believing that they were trying to 'become more human'. Probably not, though. Becoming superior seemed more likely and so far all of their attempts to do just that resulted in failure. Despite demi-humans not needing to consume human flesh and having enhanced abilities, a severely shortened lifespan took away any form of appeal.

In the end he was born to obey and die.

Hide always thought that V had let him leave the Garden too soon. He had been seven when he'd 'transferred' to Kaneki's elementary school, at that age children are still extremely impressionable. His intelligence and observational skills had always been above average; it hadn't taken him much time to figure out that what V was doing was morally wrong in so many ways.

But he couldn't leave because in reality, where would he go? Hiding from one of the most—if not the most powerful—organization in the world was impossible.  In other words, he was resigned to his fate.

"You did great Mutsuki, I'm sure Mama is happy with you!"

"Really? Thanks for believing that. You were pretty good yourself."

"Ya think so?"

"Absolutely! You were outstanding Miss Saiko!"

"Oh, you flatter me."

Hide glanced up and saw that he was back where he had started—CCG. It was almost as if he had been instinctively drawn to his fate. A voice mocked him, 'you can't leave. You belong to us,' it sounded an awful lot like Matsuri...

He looked over to the happy-go-lucky group that was discussion their latest test or something. The blue haired woman had her chest puffed out, mostly likely because of the compliment she had received. The green haired one with the eyepatch—don'tthinkofKanekidon'tthinkofKaneki—was trailing behind the group with a small smile. Shy but at ease, Hide noted.

Lastly, the dirty blond (I don't know his actual hair colour but it looks kinda blond-ish or light brown) one... He looked annoying, no, that wasn't it, he reminded Hide too much of himself. The bubbly personality, the wide smile all of it was what Hide had been like.

"Urie and Sia were the best," the green one, Mutsuki, Hide believed was his name, said, "Mr. Sasaki showed a lot of interest in them."

Sasaki?...Oh.

"Ya, I just hope Urie doesn't blow Mama's fuse!"

Those were the Quinx; his future teammates.

Hide hoped that Kaneki would be able to hold his emotions down and not cause a scene when he was revealed as a new quinx... Who was he kidding? Kaneki had practically made hiding his feelings an art. The only reason he nearly broke earlier was because he had been caught unaware and unprepared. Hide knew damn well how much time and fortitude was needed to put up a half decent front.

"Who're you?" His doppelgänger asked, "you've been staring at us for the past minutes."

"Oh, I have?" He rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment, "I guess I was, sorry about that."

"Why were you staring at us?" Twin tails, Saiko, asked.

"... You are the quinx, right? I wasn't given much info on them and I've just been transferred here from Germany."

"Yup! We're the quinx," she cocked her head, "and again, why?"

"I'm actually signed up for the operation as well. We'll be in the same squad."

"Why weren't you at the Chateau then?" Mutsuki inquired with a small voice.

"Complications..." He was in no mood to elaborate.

"Oh..." Mutsuki didn't press on.

"What was it you were talking about?" Hide quickly changed the subject.

"Earlier today Mama—"

"She means Sasaki," Mutsuki interrupted.

"—had this 'assessment' thing where he got to see how good—or bad—we were at fighting! Obviously we all lost, even Urie and Sia!"

"He must be pretty strong, this Sasaki of yours," Hide mumbled

"Yup! But..." Saiko trailed off.

"H-he changed after the Tsukiyama operation," Mutsuki picked up, "he used to be kind and warm, now he's just cold. I really wish I knew why."

 _'Probably because he remembers his past and realized his position as little more than a slave to the CCG,_ ' Hide thought cynically.

"Sometimes people change for reasons you can't understand," Hide stated.

"He did say Haise never existed..." Saiko said, "what could he mean by that?"

Hide sighed, he knew, of course he knew but it wasn't as though he could tell them, "how would I know? I don't even know Sasaki." That was true, he knew Ken, not Haise.

"Maybe something happened with Arima?" Hige asked

_'You have no idea.'_

"I-I don't think so..." Mutsuki muttered.

"It won't do any good to ponder a subject you can't hope to understand," Hide was walking away, "anyways, I should get going! See you later, I guess..."

He scurried away.

—•—

The group stared at Hide's receding figure.

"That was... Unexpected," Hige said slowly.

"I didn't know we were going to have another squad member..." Mutsuki said, "I wonder if Sasaki knows."

"Probably, Mama's always on top of things, there's no way he wouldn't know!"

Mutsuki shrugged, "I guess you're right."

"Oh! That reminds me," Saiko pipped, "I was thinking that we could give Mama a present or something."

Hige scratched his head, "I'm afraid I can't be of much help here..."

"Don't worry, he's super easy to buy gifts for," Saiko reassured him, "a book always does the trick!"

"Always did the trick," Mutsuki pointed out, "he's different now..."

Saiko scoffed, "he's obsessed with literature! There's no way that would've changed!"

"I guess you're right."

“Of course I’m right!” Saiko exclaimed punching the air, “all we need to do is show him that he’s welcomed and that everything will be just fine!”

Mutsuki smiled; Saiko’s enthusiasm was contagious, “he really likes horror… know any good ones that have come out recently?”  

“Horror! No way! We aren’t getting him that!”

“But—!”

“No buts! He’s moody enough as it is. No, what he needs is some comedy!” Saiko said vigorously nodding her head. 

“Comedy is always good,” Hige nodded sagely.

“See! He’s agreeing with me!”

Saiko did not wait for Mutsuki to respond, instead she grabbed him by the arm and pulled him in the direction of the nearest bookstore that she knew. What? A girl’s gotta get her manga somewhere, not to mention that Mutsuki also knew where every bookstore in a ten kilometer radius was; they could blame that pointless knowledge on Sasaki.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can you guess what the location mentioned in the letter is? It's pretty obvious in my opinion, then again, I am the writing this soooo...
> 
>  
> 
> Tokyo Ghoul: RE = Tokyo Ghoul: King... *mind blown*  
> And Kaneki's the OEK, not that that surprises anyone.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ETO! ETO! ETO!  
> Oh, and Saiko and Co. learn something they probably shouldn't've (I don't care if double apostrophes aren't proper grammar!)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IT THICKENS! No but really, this is dialogue heavy with almost nothing else. 
> 
> And once again, PLEaSe point out any errors! I promise I won't bite...

Touka sighed for the millionth time. Her shift had been extended because _someone_ had called in sick. She sighed yet again, it was mean of her and also quite immature. Nishiki really had sounded sick… She was just miffed about having to cancel her date with Yoriko. Yomo was also unavailable, having left to gather ‘supplies’ and he wouldn’t be back until later—much later.

It was still early morning and a customer had yet to make an appearance. The food and coffee had been restocked not two days ago, the dishes were all clean, the tables were prepped and ready and basically everything was done. It was boring. Before she would’ve studied but ever since the Anteiku raid she hadn’t had the time to continue her education, nor would she have been able to in the first place.

Touka was somewhat baffled—but not ungrateful—that the CCG hadn’t done a background check of all the employees of the coffee shop. She rationalized that they must’ve been in a hurry and couldn’t risk the information getting leaked or something along those line. It left a bad taste in her mouth. And after the raid, why hadn’t they done it then? Despite it having occurred three years ago she still expected Investigators to kick the door dawn at any moment.  

Much had been lost. Kaneki had ‘died’, the Manager was taken by Aogiri, Irimi and Koma were killed, Hinami had joined Aogiri out of anger. With so many dead and gone the once welcoming shop was much more toned down and morose.

It was awfully quiet.

_‘Oh, the TV isn’t turned on… Idiot.’_

She grabbed the remote that was at an arms reach and turned it on. Being preoccupied by other things—trying not to die, stressing out over trying not to die, keeping others from dying and worrying about others possibly dying—left her unable, and uninterested, in television shows or TV in general.

The news it was then.

She half expected to hear nothing, maybe your average ghoul attack or mugging but nothing that would concern her in any way, boy was she wrong.

_“The CCG investigators have just arrived at the location where the suspect in presumed to be.”_

Touka looked at the television; they didn’t broadcast small investigations. Whatever ghoul they were after must be high rated or at least have caused quite a bit of trouble.

 _“Does the ghoul in question have an alias?”_ Someone asked.

_“Yes, I believe it is an S rate ghoul by the name of Serpent—”_

“That little piece of shit!” Touka growled. She couldn’t believe it. She had told Nishiki to lay low for awhile until the CCG forgot about him but nooo he just had to make matters worse.

“Kimi wouldn’t want you to throw your life away…” She mumbled.

The common sense and self control she acquired over the last few years told her that recklessly hunting down a ghoul for revenge was folly. On the other hand, if anyone hurt Yoriko… She could understand where Nishiki was coming from, not that it took away any of the stupidity. Touka only wished he’d chosen a different day.

“Tch, if he dies I lose so much free time,” she grumbled trying to ignore the very real possibility that he might not be making it back home alive.

Touka wasn’t sure if she could handle loosing another person, even if said person was a shitty one.

_“It appears that the investigators are about to make contact with—”_

Touka turned the TV off. She’d rather not hear about a friend dying on television of all things. Her logic was similar to Schrödinger's cat; so long as she did not have confirmation she could hope for the best.

Her day was proving to be much more stressful than anything she could’ve planned for.

Her cell ringed. She reached into her pocket and looked at the caller ID. A faint smile appeared on her face.

“Yoriko?”

 _“Touka! Have you seen the news?”_ She sounded worried.

“… Yes.”

 _“Oh,”_ she said dejectedly, _“I’m sure he’ll be fine!”_   She tried to sound as convincing as possible.

“Of course, it’s not as though he plans to fight them, he’s after the one they call Torso.”

_“There, see, no reason to worry whatsoever!”_

“I guess you’re right,” Touka said, “I’m really sorry about tonight…”

_“That’s fine! We can always reschedule. I’m thinking maybe—”_

The door opened with a jingle.

“I’m sorry there’s a customer, gotta hang up. Love you.”

_“Love ya too, see you later.”_

Touka looked up. The customer that had walked in seemed familiar but she couldn’t quite place it. The messy teal hair, the large glasses, the rather eccentric over all look… She came out of her stupor, this was no way to treat someone.

“Welcome to :Re,” she said cheerfully, “how may I serve you?” 

The woman looked at the confectionaries, her gaze sweeping back and forth before settling on a simple cupcake.

“Anything else?” She asked.

“No, I came here to meet some, I simply felt that it would be rude to not buy anything,” the woman explained.

“I see,” Touka said with a smile, it was nice to see that polite people still existed in today’s world, “I don’t mean to be insensitive, but is it possible that we’ve met before? You seem familiar.”

“Well, it is entirely possible that you have seen me before,” the woman smiled, “my name is Takatsuki Sen, the author.”

Oh. OH. Touka nearly stumbled backwards. To have someone of Takatsuki’s standing come in this tiny coffee shop was nothing short of an honour.

_‘Kaneki would’ve loved this…’_

“I’m so sorry I didn’t—” Touka was cut off.

“It’s fine, I don’t expect everyone to know who I am,” Takatsuki smiled, “besides, you don’t strike me as the book type.”

Touka scratched her cheek, “ah, well, no I can’t really say that I am.”

Touka had no idea what to say next, what do you talk about with a celebrity?! Small talk seemed to be underneath them. Not liking the awkward silence, she blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

“So who are you meeting?” She mentally kicked herself. _‘you can’t just do that, Touka!’_   

“That’s,” she pursed her lips, “a bit complicated.”

Touka frantically waved her hands, “no, no, it’s fine, you really don’t have to answer!”

The door jingled.

_‘Yes! Saved by the bell… Kinda.’_

She perked up, ready to serve another. Hopefully the new customer would know Takatsuki and they could talk with each other about books and stuff.

Her heart stopped.

No. That couldn’t be…

“Ah, Kaneki, so glad to see you could make it.”

Touka turned to face the famous author, this was who she was meeting?! What kind of sick joke was this?

“Of course,” he responded, “did you expect me not to?”

“Perhaps,” her smile was bordering on eerie, quite different from the previous ones Touka had seen, “Oh, be a dear and turn the sign.”

The black haired man flipped the sign so that the outside could read ‘Closed’.

 Kaneki didn’t so much as glance at Touka as he made his way to the nearest table.

“I have a hard time believing you would pull a stunt like this for nothing,” he sat down, “so, start talking.”

“Oooo, bossy,” she giggled, “I like that. By the way, did you like my ‘gift’?”

Ok, Touka was officially lost. What gift could Kaneki have received from a renown author? Under normal circumstances she would’ve walked up to Kaneki and slugged him in the face but this was far from being ‘normal’ in any way. This Kaneki might as well be a stranger to her. She had a faint feeling of dread that she was witnessing something that she really shouldn’t be.

Takatsuki skipped to the table Kaneki was sitting in. Her entire demeanour set off alarms in Touka’s mind. Something was wrong, something was horribly, horribly wrong. Obviously, why wold Takatsuki want to talk to Kaneki? The Black Reaper. That last part made her mouth go dry.  

“Can’t I just be visiting a fan?”

Kaneki took a deep breath, “cut the crap, Eto.”

 Wait, what? Eto?... Eto… Eto has in Aogiri’s executive? What in the ever loving fuck was going on?!

She gripped the counter with both hands, her mind going wild with all sorts of horrible ideas. Was Kaneki in cahoots with Aogiri? Was he only still in CCG as a spy? If so why did he seem so… angry to see Eto? Maybe he didn’t like her? Ya, that sounded like the most reasonable conclusion she could make with the little information she had gathered thus far.

“As you may know,” Aogiri’s executive clasped her hands, “the CCG is corrupt.”

Kaneki scoffed, “I didn’t need you to tell me that.”

 _‘So Kaneki isn’t with Aogiri?’_ Touka frowned, maybe she should intervene and demand answers. Nah, she’d be bested in no time.

“What you might not know is how deep the corruption truly goes.”

“Can you please stop beating around the bush and just get to the point already?”

Eto blinked owlishly, “where’s the fun in that?”

Touka’s jaw nearly unhinged as she saw Eto—a ghoul—casually take a bite out of the cupcake she had purchased. She even seemed to have enjoyed it! Everyone present in the room was a ghoul, she had no reason to pretend.

“If you’re just going to tell me about the CCG’s corruption you could’ve written it in the letter you dropped off,” Kaneki deadpanned.

“Again, that’s no fun,” she smiled, “you of all people should know that I don’t do boring.”

“Clearly,” Kaneki responded snidely, “you also don’t seem to like practicality.”

Eto giggled, “when life is as short as it is you can’t be bother by things like ‘practicality’.”

“…”

Eto looked in Touka’s direction, “oh, how rude of us, we’ve been having such a tense conversation right in front of an innocent that is no way involved with anything… It’d be a shame if she got in trouble because of something she wasn’t supposed to hear…”

Touka’s breath hitched, was she a hostage?

“I don’t like where this is heading, Eto,” Kaneki growled.

“That hardly matters to me,” the petite author/S-rated ghoul took yet another bite out of her cupcake, “I needed a place where we could meet that wouldn’t arose suspicion, what with that collar of yours and all, since you’ve been here as Haise it wouldn’t be surprising for you to come back.”

“That is the most backwards logic I’ve ever heard, you could’ve chosen anywhere else and it wouldn’t have made a difference.”

Eto hummed, “I suppose you’re right, but I do have a reason…” She nudged her head towards Touka, “you wouldn’t want anything bad to happen would you?”

Oh my God, she was a hostage!

“Why now, I could’ve told the CCG about your identity weeks ago?” Kaneki brought up a valid point.

“But you didn’t, you didn’t tell them who I was,” Eto leaned forward, “that’s when I thought, maybe we could cooperate. After all, I’m on pretty good terms with your mentor.”

“What?”  

“It’s nothing you won’t know in time.”

He opened his mouth but was cut off by the ringing of his cellphone ringing.  

—•—

“Here we are,” Saiko announced, “Mama’s home… For now,” She smiled menacingly. She would ensure that Sasaki moved in with them again.

“It’s…nice?” Hige said hesitantly.

“I don’t think he was looking for something aesthetic,” Mutsuki said.

Hige looked over at Saiko, “do you even know if he’s here? I did not get up that early for nothing.”

Shockingly, Saiko had been the first to wake up. The determined young woman then proceeded to wake up both Hige and Mutsuki. They had a mission of utmost importance and she’d be damned if she didn’t try for once.

“The lights are off,” Hige whispered, “I don’t think he’s here.”

“He could be sleeping,” Saiko reached for the bell.

“Then why would you want to wake him up?!” He hissed and swatted her hand away.

Saiko glared at him but he did have a point; waking Sasaki would not help their cause one bit.

“He probably would’ve heard us by now,” Mutsuki reasoned.

Saiko groaned. Mutsuki was right, with the amount of noise they’d made it would’ve been a miracle if Sasaki, with his enhanced hearing, hadn’t heard them!

“He might be a heavy sleeper,” she answered meekly.

“He isn’t and you know that.”

“Maybe we should just, I don’t know, wait,” Hige, the current voice of reason, said.

“He could be with Arima or on an investigation or on an investigation with Arima!” Saiko exclaimed. Oh, how they should’ve planned this out better.  

“Exactly, which is why we should come back later,” Hige said, “or better yet, call him!”

Saiko perked up but instantly looked down, “what if he really is on an investigation?”

“Isn’t it expected of Investigators to leave any non-mission electronics at home?” Mutsuki pointed out, “if you call him the worst that can happen is that he won’t answer.”

“You’re right! I’m calling him right now!” Saiko whipped out her cellphone. It wouldn’t really be a surprise anymore but her patience was waning and she wanted to give the book to Sasaki as soon as possible. Maybe even manage to spend some time with him. On a side note she could also bring up Hide; she was really curious about him.

Sasaki picked up, _“What is it Saiko?”_

Saiko cringed, he did not sound too happy.

“Hum, I—we—were wondering if you’re free…”

_"I’m busy right now.”_

“Oh, hum, when won’t you be busy?”

_“Why?”_

“It’s, hum…”

_“Look, I’m in a very delicate situation right now, either you tell me or I hang up.”_

Saiko suddenly felt extremely childish, here she was asking her superior if he could come and meet them for something as superficial as a book when he clearly had more important things to do. Childish or not she would go through with her request.

“We want to give you something…” She squeezed her eyes shut in anticipation.   

_“Give me something… I’m sure you have the best of intentions but— wait! Where are you going? I still have questions! You can’t just leave!”_

“Huh?” Saiko blinked, who was he talking to?

“What is it?” Mutsuki asked.

“I don’t know,” Saiko admitted, “he was talking to someone and apparently they just walked out on him.”

“That’s rude,” Hige added.

“Tell me about it,” pause, “wait, he didn’t hang up.”

“What are you waiting for! Put it on speaker phone!” Hige urged.

That’s exactly what she did.

_“Why would I tell you more? I’ve already done what I came here for.” A female voice sounded through the speaker._

“I wonder who that is,” Mutsuki muttered.

_“What does that even mean?!”_

_“It’s simple really, most of what I could tell you would be extremely hard to swallow, which is why I believe you should seek out the answers yourself. All I came here for was to seam the seeds of doubt and to grab a bargaining chip, after all, you wouldn’t want anything to happen to Anteiku, would you?”_

“Anteiku? What is that?” Hige asked.

“Dunno, we should check on it later,” Saiko said flippantly far more interested in the conversation.

“Never mind about that,” Mutsuki was extremely nervous, “what about the ‘seaming doubt in his mind’ part?”

“Shhh!”

_“Did you hear that?” Sasaki said._

“Shit! Abort! Abort!” Hige hissed under his breath.

Saiko fumbled for the ‘cancel’ button. That was close, Sasaki definitely wouldn’t have appreciated what they had just done.

All of their hearts were pounding. What in the heavens had they just heard?

“Well, first things first, what the hell is ‘Anteiku’?”    

—•—

Eto had left, leaving Kaneki and Touka behind. Alone.

Touka hesitated, she wanted to talk to him, she really did but the words escaped her. She had so many questions, none of which seemed appropriate for the moment. This was a crucial moment and she would not allow herself to blow it, not like she had back on that bridge all those years ago…

Shit! He was at the door. ‘ _It’s now or never!’_

“It’s okay,” Kaneki said softly, “I already know what you’re about to say and the answer is no.”

Kaneki turned the sign on the door and left without saying anything else.

“… Idiot.” Touka breathed.

He really was an idiot, a selfish idiot. He never seemed to realize that there were people who truly cared for him. She cared for him, a lot, as did Tsukiyama. After everting that Kaneki had done to him he still wasn’t ready to give him up…

She had missed what could’ve very well been her only chance at apologizing or maybe convincing him of coming back, if only to visit, yet she was less preoccupied by her failure and more with how she would go about explaining to Tsukiyama why is suddenly smelled of Kaneki.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tsukikane is totally canon. One-sidedly at least... Poor Shuu. 
> 
> HhEr DErp, this might be that last chapter for a while. I'm starting my first year of College (yay) in just over a week (23rd) and I have no idea what to expect. If I go by what I've seen on the internet, I'm gonna die. All that aside it's really gonna depend on my work load. I'm just adding this here so that I won't have to post an 'Announcement', 'cause everyone hates those, at least I do.
> 
> If you want to contact me for whatever reason you can find me at 'smol-black-reaper' on Tumblr! :D I'm a lonely, socially awkward potato so you can totally ask me anything, even if it's not TG related.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kaneki contemplates. Touka isn't happy with Nishiki. Saiko realizes she done fucked up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... sorry? I know I've kinda been AWOL for the past few months. I'm pretty sure I last updated this in... August? Probably. Anyways, here you go, this is mostly just set up... hope you don't really mind.

Kaneki was miffed. He knew better then to put all the blame on Saiko’s call but he couldn’t help wondering if he might’ve been able to wrangle out some more information before Eto had left. All that he got was that the CCG was corrupt beyond what most would deem ‘normal’ and that his mentor was on good terms with the Owl, neither of which boded any good.

The corruption of the CCG was obvious; it was almost impossible for an organization of its size to not have a hand in questionable affairs. Eto, however, made it sound so much worse than just dirty money and the like, when she spoke it had had a conspiratorial air to it all. It had left the realm of reason and hopped straight into fantasy. He was tempted to dismiss everything she had said as the mad ramblings of a cult leader but he was left oddly curious, what if she was right? It was then that he realized what her final words had meant, he would have to uncover the truths himself, but where to begin without drawing suspicion…

Arima. Eto had mentioned that she was on good terms with his mentor and the only one that fit that bill was Arima. He snorted. It wasn’t like he could waltz up to the Reaper and ask, “Ya, you know the SSS-rated Owl? Are you working with it?” that wouldn’t end well and it would serve to make Arima wary of him. Heck, he might even be charged with blasphemy or something. The Legendary Reaper working with the One-Eyed Owl? Preposterous. Despite how ridiculous it all seemed a tiny voice in the back of his mind said that it was the only possibility. Or Eto could’ve just been fucking with him.

Somehow he didn’t think that was the case, something in her voice, in the way that she had said it made him think that she had indeed told the truth. Or at the very least believed herself to be telling the truth. He couldn’t just ignore the fact that she may be insane. With the amount of ghouls she’s cannibalized he wouldn’t be shocked if her mental state was below par.

Still… The idea that Arima was working with—or for Eto—opened up so many cans of worms. Why? Why was he working with her? Was he merely a spy for Aogiri or was there more to the puzzle and he simply didn’t have enough pieces to make out a clear picture? What about the higher ups? Were they aware of Arima’s possible affiliations?

Were they working with ghouls?

“This can’t go public.” He whispered under his breath as the realization of the situation came to him.

Just the assumption couldn’t be made public. If someone threw the idea out there someone else would pick it up and investigate. If the ‘scandal’ grew large enough there was no way the Washuu could ever sweep it under the rug and forget it ever happened.

He also had the Quinx to worry about. They’d ask questions and—he froze. The Quinx. What was the deal with the Quinx? Why would an organization seemingly hell-bent on destroying anything and everything related to ghouls ever allow such a procedure to take place? It was an oxymoron!

The Quinx led Kaneki to think of himself, why was he still alive? Had he not already served his purpose as the blueprint for the Quinx operation? Why was he kept alive when he was nothing but a liability in the making?

Kaneki groaned, at the end of it all he only had questions and no answers; at best, he had half assed speculations.

—•—

Nishiki hissed in pain and aggravation. God! He'd been so fucking reckless! That Dove couldn't have been higher than a Rank Two! His side throbbed, the quinque had dug deep, deep enough not to heal almost instantaneously, like able-to-see-your-innards-deep.

He had meant to tail the Doves from a distance and gather information without being seen. He had heard that the ghoul they named 'Torso' was in the area. The ghoul he was after. A few months ago, he would've known which squad in particular that he should follow but ever since the Tsukiyama Raid, the Quinx Squad had all been giving a promotion and thus, we're taken off of the case. Now it was in the hands of some unknown Investigators. Nishiki, with no inside information, resorted to tailing the odd Doves in hopes that they'd lead him to Torso. Obviously, such a plan was ridiculously risky—he could get caught. Or killed. Which almost happened.

Touka was gonna chew his ears off. He knew she'd hear about the incident one way or another, after all, there had been a news helicopter.

He collapsed on the floor of his hideout and finally allowed himself to let go of his wound. The cloth he'd haphazardly pressed against the gash was drenched in blood but it had served its purpose—making sure he didn't leave a trail of blood.

He'd have to leave this place behind, which was a shame; it was a really good hiding spot. Positioned in between two rundown apartments in the less-then-desirable-part-of-the-district underneath a broken metal staircase—which was covered with stuff he didn't have a name for—it offered cover from any air surveillance. Both sides of the alley were blocked by piles and piles of trash and trash bins.

On top of all that the Humans in these parts didn't talk. It was an unsaid and unwritten law he'd managed to make with the locals. Don't rat me out and I won't eat you. Not that he would anyway.

It had it downsides, namely, the stench.

Human sweat and excrements and other bodily fluids were bad enough but to add insult to injury the garbage truck never passed... Something he was both grateful and aggravated about

Despite the pros he couldn't risk it, his blood was everywhere and there wasn't a chance in hell that he'd spend the time cleaning it up.

His injury was slowly but surely stitching itself back together. He had eating a few days ago but he was no rinkaku. Being a bikaku had its advantages, that being having no disadvantages. Paradoxically having no advantages was a disadvantage in and of itself.

He'd lost the Doves but they knew his general direction. He was a S-rated ghoul, there was no way they wouldn't sent a reconnaissance squad. A squad composed of Rank One and First Rank Investigators, maybe even an Associate Special Class if he got particularly unlucky.

He had never been more relieved that his actual home wasn't anywhere near his current location.

He grabbed the spare t-shirt and jeans he had stashed in a plastic bag. The clothes were simple, black and blue. Had they been found, nothing short of a freaking DNA test could have shown that they belonged to a ghoul, even then, it wasn't like he was registered anywhere. What would they even say? “Huuuh, yeah, they belong to a ghoul... So, like, look out for ghouls? I guess?” He doubted they'd be that stupid.

By the time he fastened his belt the injury was a nice pinkish colour.

“Damn,” he scowled, “it's gonna scar.”

He grumbled, shoved his mask in a bag and left without a sound.

—•—

“Explain.” Touka growled.

“Seriously?” Nishiki grumbled. “I just got here...”

“Why were Doves after you? I told you to stay under the radar! Yomo did too!”

“Look, they found me. That's all there is to it. They don't know what I look like if that's what you're worried about.” He sniffed. “The fuck is up with all the Febreze? It stinks.”

“Just thought the customers would like it.” She glanced at the floor.

Subject change successful!

“Ya, riiiight.” He drawled. “I'll be in the back if you need anyt—.” He stopped abruptly.

Touka winced.

“He was here... Why was he here?”

“Honestly?” Touka sighed. “I'm not exactly sure myself. He came to meet an Aogiri executive.”

“What!” Nishiki exclaimed. “Aogiri was here?!”

Touka snorted. “No, dumbass, just Eto.”

“‘Just Eto' she says! She's nothing to laugh at!”

“I know!” Touka snapped back before sobering up. “I just don't want to jump to any conclusions. Everything Eto said was in riddles... I don't even think Kaneki had any idea of what she was spouting.”

“… Does Tsukiyama know?”

“Why do you think I doused the place in Febreze?”

“Ya, no, if I could smell it there’s no way in Hell he isn’t.”

Touka gave a thin smile. “I’m hoping he’ll just think it’s an olfactory hallucination.”

“Seriously?” Nishiki asked completely perplexed.

“Yes! Now go back to doing something productive!”

“Ok, ok.” He went to push the door to the kitchen open. “Where’s Yomo?”

“He called and said he’d pass by sometime around two. Supplies and all, you know?”

Nishiki nodded. ‘Supplies’ tended to mean food for humans and food for ghouls.

“Oh! I nearly forgot.” Touka said and stared at Nishiki dead in the eyes. “Tonight I have a date and so help me if something happens…”

“Yeah, sure, nothing crazy’s gonna happen. Promise.” He said nervously almost unsure of his own promise. Then again, he really couldn’t guarantee anything.

—•—

“Hum...” Saiko approached Akira slowly. “I have a question.”

She and the others had returned to the Chateau after the events of the previous day. Today, however, was the time to ask around for answers.

Saiko knew she had heard of this 'Anteiku' before but she could not for the life of her remember where or in what context.

So. Here she was.

“Yes?” Akira looked down at the small woman.

“It's just... well me and the others overheard something and...” She drifted off and decided that the easiest way to do this was to simply cut to the chase. “Ever heard of 'Anteiku'?”

Akira tensed almost imperceptibly. Almost.

“Why?”

Saiko wasn't nearly as dumb as people thought her to be. She could read subtle changes in people's attitude and boy was Akira not happy.

“I heard it somewhere and was curious.” That wasn't a lie. Really, it wasn't.

Akira inhaled. “It was the name of a coffee shop.”

“Oh.” She was a bit disappointed.

“A Ghoul coffee shop.”

“Oh... Oh!”

“Yes, some three or so years ago the CCG led a raid to exterminate them. There were many casualties.”

“...” Saiko knew better than to pry. It was clear that Akira had lost many close ones during that raid. Maybe she even blamed herself for some of their deaths... Saiko sometimes blamed herself for Shirazu's death.

“I see. Sorry if I brought up bad memories.”

The blonde woman gave a forced smile. “You couldn't have known.”

“Speaking of that... How did I not know? It sounds like a pretty big deal.”

“It's confidential information. I've already told you more than I should.”

Saiko let the info she had just been given sink in. Anteiku was a ghoul cafe. Sasaki was somehow connected to it. Was he a traitor? Could it really be considered treason? Saiko wasn't aware of all the details surrounding her superior and she might not be the smartest but even she could acknowledge that it was weird. What made him so special? Why was he kept alive? Not that she wasn't happy or anything... it was just... odd.

“What would you do if it was still around?” The words came out before she could stop them.

Akira's gaze darkened. “That isn't a question I'm willing to answer.”

“Of—of course. I understand.”

The elder straightened her back. “Have a good day miss Saiko.”

Saiko was left alone with her thoughts. If Sasaki was indeed mixed up with Anteiku… She wasn’t sure she’d want to kill him, not that she could anyways. There was still so much she couldn’t be certain of but hopefully after reconvening with the others—

“Oh no.” She whispered in realization.

Hige had no emotional attachment to Sasaki whatsoever.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Skool is shiet... Kinda. It's also necessary and I very much like my life, something my Mom would gladly take away if I dropped out. I can safely say that college is an awful lot more demanding that High school ever was... Ugh. I've gotta stop procrastinating. Whelp, back to working on my freaking case summary, I guess. 
> 
> Don't know when the next chappy will be ready, I haven't even started it yet but it will come... eventually. 
> 
> Completely unrelated but is anyone excited for Rogue One? 'Cause I know I am! I legit just want to see Vader fuck some rebels up. That is all. If he doesn't kill, at the bare minimum, one character on screen, I'm gonna be so disappointed.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hige and Arima   
> Mostly Arima.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so, yeah... I really wish I had a valid excuse but... ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯  
> This is pretty short but I felt like I should upload something.   
> No promises as to when the next chapter will come out.

Hige tip toed down the hallway. There wasn’t any reason to do so, he just wanted to. To be honest the whole “find out what Anteiku is” thing felt like some huge conspiracy. A conspiracy he was trying to unearth the secrets of.

For some reason the possible dangers passed right over his head. Surely whatever Anteiku was couldn’t be that bad if Sasaki was involved, right?

He shrugged and continued his silent creeping. If the man he was planning on asking didn’t know anything, well, he’d have to give up. If _he_ didn’t know, nobody did.

That’s right. He was going to ask Arima himself. If anyone knew anything about Sasaki, it would be the Reaper.

“Go big or go home.”

The door to the man’s office came into view and Hige began to feel somewhat apprehensive. How was he even going to broach the subject? Oh well, it wasn’t as though he’d be able to flesh out that thought out since he’d already knocked on the door.

“Come in.”

_‘Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit.’_ Hige swallowed, _‘well, no turning back now.’_

He doubted the Reaper would appreciate a ‘knock and run’.

Hige couldn’t help but notice the similarities between the office and the man himself. Both were absolutely pristine. Arima seemed to be more of an accessory than a human being. It was disconcerting.

White. White. And more white. Hige was hard pressed to find anything in the room that wasn’t white. He was sure there was a metaphor somewhere.

“Well, I do hope you came here for a reason.” Arima looked up from his papers.

“I was wondering if you could answer a question…”

Arima’s face remained passive save for one raised eyebrow. Hige took it as a sign to continue.

“What could you tell me about Anteiku?”

Arima’s expression did not change. “Did you check the electronic database?”

“Well, yes, but there’s nothing—”

“And what makes you believe that I would know?”

“I—well—I just assumed—”

“As a matter of fact, I do know.”

Hige perked.

“However, the information is confidential and I do not have the clearance to divulge it to you.”

Hige’s spirits fell. Well, that was a bummer.

“I see…”

“Speaking of me knowing, what gave you the impression that I would?”

Hige bit his lip, “well, you’re the Reaper, I figured that if anyone would know it’d be you.”

Arima stared blankly at Hige, “many people believe that I know all and am invincible.”

Hige was about to nod when Arima said something that caught him entirely off guard.

“They are wrong.” He did not break eye contact with Hige. “Many also strive to emulate me, some even desire to be me. None of them ever wonder if being me is really all that it’s cut out to be.”

Hige was at a loss of words. What was Arima even talking about? How was any of that related to Anteiku even in the slightest? Connected to Anteiku or not it did leave him with many more questions.

“Are we finished here?”

Hige stuttered, “Y-yes.”

“Good, I have work to do.”

The younger investigator walked out of the room, dumbfounded.

—•—

Only once the door was closed did Arima allow himself to sigh. What did Eto do this time? Perhaps he was being unfair but every time something of interest happened, she was involved; directly or indirectly. Oh, the woes of being in cahoots with the One-Eyed Owl.

He was expecting the Quinx—and soon to be Quinx—to begin investigating Sasaki—Kaneki—but he never would’ve thought that they’d begin so soon or so boldly. He had to commend Hige, the boy had some nerve. Nerve or not, however, he was the wildest of cards when it came to Eto’s over arching plan. His family was the overly righteous type. The kind that could justify killing a mother, a father, a sister, a brother, a _child_. They made him sick.

“Many would call me a hypocrite.” He mused.

And they would’ve been right, once upon a time. He had justified himself in his younger years but has the years went by, the senseless killing made less and less sense. He wasn’t naïve, he knew perfectly well that some ghouls were simply too dangerous to let live.

But what of the scavengers?

The ones who only ate when absolutely necessary?

 The ones who would gladly accept any alternatives to human flesh?

What of the ones who just wanted to go to school, to have friends, to laugh till the sun went down and watch movies till the sun came up?

What of those like the Anteiku ghouls?  

The problem was the lack of discrimination. 

Loath he to admit, but there was little he could do to stop any of it. He was too ingrained in the minds of ghouls as a monster. The opposite was also true for Eto. He gave a half-hearted chuckle, the two monsters working together in hopes of making a better future for both species.

And that hope laid almost entirely on the shoulders of one artificial half ghoul.     

Not that his superiors knew of his inner thoughts, they never could. And once they did, well, he’d already be long gone.

He felt vaguely guilty for what he was about to impose on Kaneki, what he was about to force him into. If he could think of an alternative he would take it, unfortunately his days were counted and the time to find another wasn’t available. Hopefully his and Eto’s faith wasn’t misplaced. He didn’t think that was the case but he’s been wrong before…

He blinked.

He had forgotten to ask Hige where he had heard about the café. Oh, well, Eto would tell him sooner rather than later. In the mean time he should—

His cellphone buzzed.

He fetched it from his pocket and checked the screen.

_There’s nothing better than a good cup of coffee with a cupcake : ) @:REcafe_

To the unknowing eye, it would appear as an innocuous tweet from Takatsuki Sen. Arima knew better. They had to be creative in their communications, one misstep and their house of cards would come crashing down.

Honestly, Arima would rather the CCG think he was in contact with Takatsuki rather than Eto. He was, after all, an unapologetic fan of her work—perhaps he was a _little_ biased.

“Hum,” he mused, “perhaps it wouldn’t hurt to lead them on.” The thought of being seen with Eto in public nearly succeeded in bringing a mockery of a smile to his face. To the general public, it would simply be a renowned author talking with a renowned Investigator. To a very marginal group, it would be a blatant sign of alliance, of something previously unfathomable. It would be the One-Eyed Owl—or in more cases, Eto, the Aogiri executive— conversing with the White Reaper. 

It would surely raise mixed feelings.

Eto had yet to contact him on that particular subject but he suspected that she had strongly implied their relationship. Kaneki would instantly suspect something, of that he was certain.

Despite that, he was not deterred, Kaneki was a smart man not to mention he was to be let in on all of their secrets in the near future.

He swiftly responded to Eto’s tweet with something similarly miscellaneous.

Well, he was dying anyway, might as well live a little before the end. Go out with a bang, so to speak.

_“They’ll never know what hit them.”_

_What would you say about meeting @REcafe? @takatsukisen_


End file.
